working against police brutality and anti-blackness and uplifting Black voices

Suggestions on inclusion and support for people of colour presented to Mayor

This list of suggestions was presented to Mayor Gregor Robertson on July 19th, 2016. This is a working document and we welcome suggestions (blacklivesmattervan@gmail.com).Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories

1. Funding, infrastructure and resources for anti-racist and anti-oppression training for
the Vancouver Police Department, Fire Department and other frontline services.
a. A grant to BLMV (or a similar organization) to bring together anti-racist and
anti-oppression experts and activists from across the Lower Mainland to
develop a series of workshops that specifically address racism within public
services and help the VPD to combat those manifestations within their
organization.
b. Investment in police accountability programming.
2. Funding for resources to be created that enable organizations, businesses and
institutions across Vancouver to actively engage with inclusion in regards to
racialized communities.
a. A grant to BLMV (or a similar organization) to create an accessibility audit that
focuses on the inclusion of communities that are marginalized due to race.
b. Support in creating a printed resource that can be distributed to
establishments across Vancouver, providing tips and guidelines on how to
actively engage in anti-racism.
3. Funding for spaces, events and activities that particularly engage and support Black,
Indigenous and racialized youth. Additionally, specific allocations of funding for queer
and trans youth of colour who face multiple intersections of oppression and
discrimination. Organizations that already have the infrastructure to implement such
programming include: Qmunity, PeerNetBC, Our City of Colours, Out in Schools,
Purple Thistle, Gallery Gachet, Heartwood Cafe.
4. Increased recognition and celebration of the history of Black communities in
Vancouver, particularly Strathcona and Hogan’s Alley.
5. An official public apology for the building of the Georgia Viaduct and the subsequent
erasure of Black communities in Vancouver.
6. Funding and support for the Black Strathcona project to reinstate memorial plaques
in Strathcona and other learning tools.
7. Specific and thorough measures to tackle gentrification in the Downtown Eastside,
Chinatown, Strathcona and other urban areas.
8. Increased acknowledgement and research into the effects of gentrification and
housing unaffordability on racialized communities.
a. A study into the effects of the housing crisis on racialized communities,
particularly Indigenous communities in the DTES and Asian/Asian-Canadian
communities in Chinatown and Mount Pleasant resulting in further action on
the situation.
b. A public forum in which the Mayor holds space for these communities to
address their concerns and pledges to actively combat gentrification and
displacement of these communities from their homes.
9. An acknowledgement of African refugees and African people seeking to bring family
members to Vancouver.
a. A public forum in which the Mayor holds space for these communities to raise
their concerns, similar to the one held for Syrian refugees.
10. Improve city-wide programming for communities and individuals who speak English
as a second language or do not speak English.
a. Hire service workers who know other Chinese dialects beyond Hong Kong
Cantonese or Mandarin, such as Toishanese or Shanghainese. Similar
accountability measures can also be taken in other communities.
b. Include transit advertisements on mental health, suicide, sexual assault or
anti-violence in multiple languages.
c. Train transit and public service workers appropriate protocol for customers
who do not speak English.
d. Fully fund anti-violence organizations that have mandates to serve racialized
women, such as Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW), so that
they can afford hiring women who know multiple languages to work on their
crisis line, victim services, and counselling.
e. Provide funding for women’s shelters so that, for instance, Chinese immigrant
women fleeing abuse can access culturally appropriate services in
Cantonese, Mandarin, or other dialects.
f. Hire or provide funding for organizations to hire queer and trans people of
colour who have language skills to translate signage or information pamphlets
on LGBTQ+ issues into their respective languages and cultural contexts.
11. Increase funding to arts and culture based organizations in order for them to continue
to provide a safe and welcoming space to racialized communities to come together,
celebrate and heal.
12. Improve the experiences and safety of racialized youth in public schools across
Vancouver.
a. Hire racialized social workers and counsellors to work in Vancouver public
schools, especially in mostly racialized neighbourhoods.

13. Hold regular and meaningful consultations with Indigenous communities, both on and offline.

Social

The land we are on

The majority of the organizing done by the Black Lives Matter Vancouver Coalition, will be taking place on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory and homelands of the Musqueam, Tseil-Watuth and Squamish First Nations. We are very grateful to the Coast Salish people for the knowledge, kindness and indomitable spirit with which they have taken care of this land for millennia. We also acknowledge and mourn the many murdered and missing Indigenous people at the hands of state violence and police brutality.

The origins of our cause

The Official #BlackLivesMatter Organization founded by Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza.
#BlackLivesMatter is an online forum intended to build connections between Black people and our allies to fight anti-Black racism, to spark dialogue among Black people, and to facilitate the types of connections necessary to encourage social action and engagement.

"Freedom, by definition, is people realizing they are their own leaders" - Diane Nash